The present invention relates to systems and methods for controlling industrial systems, machines, or assets, and, more particularly, but not by way of limitation, systems and methods for authenticating remotely issued control commands for controlling such industrial systems, machines, or assets.
Industrial systems, such as power plants, manufacturing plants, assets, and other machinery, are generally engineered to perform particular tasks as part of a business enterprise or process. Such assets, for example, may include, among other things, gas and steam turbines that drive power plants, wind turbines that generate electricity on wind farms, various types of manufacturing equipment on production lines, aircraft and train engines, and the drilling equipment used in mining operations. As will be appreciated, the efficient implementation of these assets is a complex design challenge, which, to be successful, must anticipate both the physics of the task at hand as well as the environment in which the assets are expected to operate.
As part of this implementation, software and hardware-based controllers have long been the preferred solution for driving and controlling operation. With the rise of inexpensive cloud computing, increasing sensor capabilities and decreasing sensor costs, as well as the proliferation of mobile technologies and networking capabilities, new possibilities have arisen to reshape how industrial assets or machines are designed, operated, managed, and controlled. Specifically, recent advances in sensor technologies now enable the harvesting of new types and vastly more operational data, while progress in network speed and capacity allows essentially real-time transmission of this data to distant locations. This means, for example, that even for a geographical dispersed fleet of like industrial machines, the increased amounts of data gathered at each remote site may be efficiently brought together, analyzed, and employed in ways aimed at improving both fleet and individual asset performance. As a consequence of this evolving, data-intensive, distributed environment, new opportunities have arisen to enhance the value of industrial machines through novel industrial-focused hardware and software solutions.
Within this environment, industrial assets or machines often are remotely located in relation to the computerized controllers that perform optimization and control algorithms intended to improve their performance. For example, remote monitoring and control of gas turbines, especially industrial gas turbines, has become increasingly common. Additionally, the distributed nature of such systems and the many stakeholders involved in operational decision making, typically means that control commands affecting how such industrial machines are deployed and operated may be derived remotely and from various sources. For example, remotely dispersed technicians, operators, owners, and other stakeholders—as well as software analytics running on remote computing systems—may remotely analyze data related to the operation of the asset and then prescribe corrective steps, control actions, commands, or other operational adjustments for improving the performance of the asset. Real time responsiveness may be required for many of these actions, which makes the efficient validation and authentication of incoming control commands an important consideration. Therefore, there exists an on-going need for improved methods and systems for authenticating and authorizing commands being issued by remote systems for the control of industrial assets and machines.